Monkeys [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

"Monkeys" isn't a novel in the usual sense of the word. It is more of a collection of vignettes encompassing about 13 years in the life of a modern family, snapshots of moments in which we come to know each family member, then see how they change as their story progresses.

The most astonishing thing about the book is how Minot ties each piece together. For the most part, the "big" events in the life of the family happen outside the narrative itself, in the space between the snapshots we are given. We may experience these moments as a part of their memories, but we come to understand what they were and what their effect has been in a fractured flow of story.

Minot's prose, as in all her books, is expressive but spare, an economy of words that leaves much up to the reader's interpretation. She tells us just enough to know the family, to understand their quiet successes and their obvious failures, to see both the shape of the mask and what lies underneath it. She gives us the same kind of knowledge that we might have if they lived in a house down the street, a neighborly knowledge, not an intimate one.

For the most part, this is a strong point in the book, but at a few points, Minot's style puts the reader at a distance when we might prefer a closer understanding of the feelings of each family member. In a way, it's the same frustration one experiences when we know something has happened to a neighbor, but we don't know how to ask without seeming nosy or pushy. Perhaps this was a deliberate choice on Minot's part, this enforced distance from her characters, but intentional or not, it was frustrating at times.

Still, despite the occasional frustration, "Monkeys" is a well-rendered series of portraits of a modern American family, the foibles and wrinkles and soft tragedies that make up so much of the family landscape, and shape the people in it. Minot's writing is a delightful and refreshing change from the self-indulgent, overwrought prose most modern novelists love to employ, and in these brief vignettes, and the implication of events occurring between one and the next, we are given the chance to observe the quiet act of disintegration that goes on around us every day.

This book describes one woman's painful childhood in an upper class New England family. The book deals with difficult subjects (alcoholic father, death of mother) with an acute deftness and touches of unexpected humor. The first chapter is written from the child's point of view and starts with a "typical" family Sunday of church, ice-cream, and the beach. It ends with the children and mother hiding in a linen closet to play a prank on the father. The ending of the chapter is unexpected, but rings oh-so-true. "Monkeys" is brush-stroke writing at its best.

It's been nearly a decade since I read this book but I'll never forget its profound impact on me--even as an only child! Minot's voice is so truly crafted that you will experience this family through each of the characters. You feel as though you are inside the heads of the mother and the siblings. You feel a sense of forboding with the father's presence. It's almost haunting that is exactly what makes this such a memorable read.